1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the art of electrical connectors, and more particularly to connectors for a disk-shaped cell or battery.
2. The General Background
Disk-shaped cells or batteries are often used as back up protection for electronic equipment should there be a failure in the conventional power system. Typically these disk-shaped back-up cells are relatively small, and are often referred to as “button baterries”. The cell has a positive electrode extending along a major surface and an edge, and a negative electrode extending over the other major surface and isolated from the positive electrode. For purposes of this invention, the term “battery” is to be understood to include a single cell. The battery is inserted into a connector housing mountable onto a circuit board, the connector hereinafter referred to as a “battery connector”. It is desirable that a back up battery connector require a minimum amount of space on a circuit board within the equipment, be readily accessible for replacing a depleted battery. Furthermore, it is sometimes desirable to provide a back-up battery connector that is oriented horizontally on the circuit board to which it is mounted.
In the prior art of horizontally oriented battery connectors, the battery is placed in an “open” pocket or housing of a battery connector, that is, the housing base includes contacts that extend through the housing base and the battery is disposed over or between the contacts. In most instances, the placement of the battery onto the housing is often achieved by lateral shift of the battery onto the housing, and then pressing the battery against sidewalls and bottom walls of the battery connector so as to securely hold the battery in the battery connector. The lateral shift of the battery onto the housing will invade a “real estate” above the circuit board, which is un-desirable for the back up battery connector as mentioned above.